Friday, 26 April 2013

It was indeed my birthday this week. It was one of those bigees and I have had a really lovely time. We were at the Bee the day after and all the 'girls' really made it special for me.

Alison had made me a beautiful cake and although we are all watching our weight, of course we indulged,and then there were Ann's chocolate cup cakes which were yum..

My Doti all over Birthday cake.

Ann also made this little wall hanging. She reckoned it was me going to quilting and now it is hanging in my sewing room.She is right about the saying she embroidered on it .

Alison finally finished her button club quilt by Lynette Anderson,and it looks lovely. As you know I am not a pink person, but I sure like how she has used it in this quilt. Several of us have made this quilt and they all look so different.

Alison's finished quilt

There was lots of laughter and even a little sewing done. Ann and Maggie were working on this months mystery quilt block (blog post ' In print') which was fun for me to see the different colours and threads they were using. The rest of us were plodding along and I did get another block quilted on my UFO though I guess it's a WIP ( work in progress) now.

This is also a WIP. There were quite a lot of scraps left from the Humming Bird quilt so I have been playing around, and have made 64 blocks. I am now adding appliqué hearts to the centres of some of the blocks and really liking it, possibly it will make a nice baby quilt.

Monday, 22 April 2013

The weather has been great so I have been getting on with some well needed outside work in the garden. The veggie patch has been dug over, the green house cleaned and de spidered, seeds planted,

the borders all weeded and I am now feeling more than a little smug.

My little shed/summer house where I sit and sew in the summer, needs a bit of a make over. A wash down and a lick of paint is called for, which I am hoping my husband might do. Or that will be the next job on my list for the garden.

We have quite a few bird houses spotted in and around the garden

the pottery ones made by me many moons ago and the wooden ones made by my hubby.

This terrace is used by the many sparrows that live in the garden.

But where do Mr & Mrs BlueTit decide to build their nest? in the large pot on the shelf under the table...

I was sitting having a well earned cuppa when out popped Mr Blue Tit so fast that I thought I was mistaken. But no.. back he came with a beak full of nesting material, I do hope he uses some of that lovely shetland wool ends that I put in the bird feeder ( blog post What a palaver).

How are the baby fledglings going to get out I wonder, and why this old pot that I made many years ago when I was an art student, and not some of the very nice Bird houses.

I feel really honoured, and have put thoughts about it in my memory jar ( blog post New Year), which by the way I am still using and will open next year.

Just looked at the weather forecast and it is going to rain this afternoon, so hopefully I can get back to my quilting..

Hello .. to all my new readers in Romania and Russia, you can leave comments I can translate!!!

Thursday, 18 April 2013

Spring has sprung , well at least I think it has. Little clumps of spring flowers are popping up in the garden.

Daffodils in the front garden.

They are a little blown about with all the winds we are having, but oh! so welcome.

Yesterday us sewing "girls" were all at the Bee in Wickham Market, It is a hand sewing group and we meet about twice a month when we are not at Wednesday Club. Lots of laughter, chatting and cake eating, which is really bad as we are all trying to watch our weight.

Friday, 12 April 2013

The little wall hanging'Springtime in Bird Land' that I made has appeared in print this week in Fabrications Quilting for You magazine. I love having my quilts in magazines, they make them look so lovely. So a little happy dance was called for.

Even my little drawings look good in print.

I did get back to my UFO. It is now sandwiched with wadding/batting and backing, and I have started to hand quilt it.This will be my project to take to the Bee's, as we only hand sew at the Bee.

Favorite block.

Some time ago I started designing a mystery quilt and this is the first block.

Place the open 9” strip on right side of block matching the raw edges.

Stitch along the fold line 1/2” from raw edge.

Fold the fabric over the stitching to show 1/2” border. Press. Month 1 done......

Feel free to join us in this mystery quilt. I plan to put details up once a month, around about the 12th of the month. Please note in month 1 the appliqué is set to the right hand side of the block, something else will be added to the other side later.

This is a sneaky look at block 6. It is not all stitchery, some months it will be pieced patchwork.

Monday, 8 April 2013

Scrumptious Quilt has had it's binding put on, for me that is the best part of making a quilt. It then went straight into the washing machine and is now blowing on the line in the garden. It's quite hard to photograph with the wind blowing.

Binding done.

Quilt blowing on the line in the garden.

When I came down this morning it was hanging over my chair in my sewing room. The sun was shining and I just had to take a photo, it looked so scrummy.( there's that word again) but it really is.

The builders have finished and we now have to decorate, hubby is doing the nasty bits ie- the ceilings and the woodwork. I have fun with the big roller on the walls.

I will have to get back, (when all the decorating is finished) to the UFO I was doing before I went off at a tangent again, but who could resist that lovely fabric. Ha!

Tuesday, 2 April 2013

Every thing has slowed down on the sewing and knitting front, the builders arrived on Bank Holiday Monday to start work on our bedroom ceilings. We have had to move down to the guest bedrooms, and clear the rooms of everything. Oh! what a palaver...

My Shetland Hoody is now finished and this is my friend Sue modelling it. She would dearly love me to knit her one in a smaller size, but I can not face doing it again. All those ends that had to be sewn in. Urgh. I have put them in a bird feeder , so the birds can help themselves to some wooly nesting material.

Wooly nesting material.

I have added the borders to my Jigsaw puzzle quilt now renamed Humming bird quilt (much better do you not think), and have started to quilt it. As you know I do love to hand quilt my quilts, but this one I felt needed machine quilting around the panel blocks.

3 borders added.

Started the quilting.

Machine quilting around panel blocks

Note to my self, do more machine quilting. I felt really rusty, and as the quilt is now 6 foot square it also was a bit of a palaver, doing it on my domestic sewing machine. I need to do some more hand quilting on the panel blocks and make the binding. I am so loving making this quilt.

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About Me

I have been married for 54 years, We have 3 grown up children all married 4 grand children, and one Great Grandchild. 2 dogs a Border Terrier and a Deer Hound.
I am a retired Potter / Art teacher and now spend most of my time Quilting and Designing my own patterns for Stitchery and Appliqué .